Prince of Light, King of Shadow
by Tafkae
Summary: My new theory on Yugi and Yami. When the shadow can snuff the light, can there still be hope?


Prince of Light, King of Shadow

by TAFKAE

_"I ask you only how that man could be the King when the King is the boy!"_

The Light and the Shadow were in conflict from the beginning of time. Where there was Shadow there could be no Light and where there was Light the Shadow likewise could not exist, and so by their very natures neither could accept the other's presence.

When Men appeared in the world, Light and Shadow began to wage their war through them. The Shadow took hold of some, and the Light had its followers as well. But then, the Shadow became more aggressive. It used what power it had flowing in the world to create a game—a game that could entice even the strongest of human lights to its grasp. Before anything could be done, the Game's power had corrupted even the highest authorities in the land where it appeared, until the whole nation was bitterly corrupted, even its king.

The Light decided a counterstrike was in order if Man was to be saved. So it brought to the world a prince, endowed with all the powers of the Light. His father, tainted by the Game as he was, could not bear even his presence for very long, and died ten years after the prince's birth.

But the Shadow was not done, and the prince's own brother turned on him. He forced him into a game of Shadow, and the prince, for his own survival, played. He took to the Game easily and it took to him, and in his taking of the throne, the greatest servant of the Light was put out. The prince was dead; long live the King.

The King, however, was not yet fully taken, and though he believed he could fight fire with fire, he indeed wished the fire to be snuffed. He used his entire life to combat the Game. Only at the end did he understand the futility of his quest. Only at the end did he understand that the defeat of the Game was not his to bring about. So, using the last of his power, he used the Shadow itself to seal it into a place and time not our own. But he did not see until it was too late—he had become so much a part of the Game, and it so much a part of him, that it pulled his very soul along with it; and the King died.

The Shadow lay dormant for a long time; that is, when it arose, it could be easily quelled. The Game had taken much from it, and it recognized that without the Game, it could never regain its former strength. Knowing this, it began looking for one who could revive it.

The Light would not have this, and it started on its own secret strategy. It worked for years to bring about the circumstances, and then, when all was ready, it brought the prince back into the world. This time he was not made as a prince; instead, he was born as an average Japanese boy named Yugi.

But something happened then that neither Light nor Shadow had expected. The King stirred, and he sought himself. This alerted the Shadow to the boy's presence, and it began to seek him as well, and to prevent the King's finding him before it could itself. If the dark King and the prince of Light came together, it knew, they would be unstoppable.

Regardless, the Puzzle found its way into Yugi's gentle hands. Soon after that the King awoke. And not long after that, the Game awoke with him.

The King and the Game were drawn to each other, but Yugi's light still prevented it from taking the King for a time. Once—once—the Game nearly pulled him into Shadow once again. He nearly killed for it as it wished him to. The Light in Yugi took him back.

The Shadow realized that it could not take back what it perceived as its own without first ridding the King of the chain binding him to Light. It would have murdered Yugi in cold blood. It did not anticipate the power of the King's caring, or the love of his friends. That is why it failed.

~~~~~

Though he does not remember the terrible doings of his past, the King still somehow knows of Yugi's, and Yugi vaguely of his own origins as well. Twice did the King tell him he has the heart of a Pharaoh, and he has believed it because what was left of his old self told him it was true. Once he was told he was nothing but a vessel for the Pharaoh, and what little remained of his royal pride made him annoyed.

None would be so quick to blindly trust a strange spirit within, _none._ But Yugi knew himself. Yugi knew Yugi would not lie. And since the King had risen from the ashes of the first prince (though no-one consciously knew it), Yugi knew he would not lie either.

His trust lies in himself. But he and Yami are one, divided by only a thin line of Shadow.

The King could not and cannot defeat the darkness that stole him. But the prince, the prince no longer dead—

—he was once told he was the Chosen One.

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This is my new theory. As you can see, it's much better than "The Precursor Legacy"... which is my old theory...

(o^.^o) The Artist Formerly Known As Ed


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